by David Abel and Michele Kurtz
The Boston Globe
December 21, 2001

Five weeks after Harvard biochemist Don C. Wiley mysteriously disappeared in Memphis, police yesterday found his body floating 320 miles to the south in a tributary of the Mississippi River in Louisiana.

The body was discovered shortly before 10 a.m., snagged on a tree in log-strewn water next to a hydroelectric station in Vidalia.

Police found a wallet with documents that identified the body, which matched the height and weight of the 57-year-old nationally acclaimed specialist in infectious diseases. FBI officials in New Orleans notified Memphis police at 3:15 p.m. yesterday, and officials last night sent the remains to the Shelby County medical examiner's office in Memphis for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

''That is all we know right now,'' said Officer Latanya Able, public information officer for the Memphis Police Department. ''This is very sad and our hearts go out to the family.''

After holding out hope for more than a month that his older brother would be found alive, Greg Wiley said last night that he and his family were accepting his death.

''This is all really kind of mind-boggling,'' he said. ''All we can do is wait and see. It now seems like he's really not with us anymore.''

Wiley was last seen around midnight on Nov. 14 at the Peabody Hotel, while attending a two-day annual meeting of the scientific advisory board of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

At 4 a.m., police found Wiley's rental car on a mile-long bridge that spans the Mississippi River, with his rental car contract in the glove compartment, the keys in the ignition, and a full tank of gas. The Mitsubishi Galant was pointed west, the opposite direction from Wiley's father's Memphis home, where the professor had planned to spend the night.

Police combed the river and the city but could not find any clues as to what happened to the professor, whose work had received the prestigious Lasker and Japan awards.

Wiley had planned to spend the weekend with his wife and two young children in Memphis, and the family had bought tickets to visit Graceland.

His family and friends said he would not commit suicide.

Wiley had no apparent history of mental health problems, no family or financial problems, and he was actively involved in raising his children, ages 7 and 10. His wife, Katrin Valgeirsdottir, said she and her husband had bought tickets for a Christmas trip to Iceland, for which Wiley had been spending time learning Icelandic, her native language.

In a statement, Harvard president Lawrence Summers said last night, ''All of us are profoundly saddened by today's news. Don Wiley was a brilliant biologist and a greatly admired member of this community. His loss leaves a tremendous void.''

Wiley, an expert on how the immune system fights infection, had studied the Ebola virus, HIV, herpes, and influenza.

The professor was most widely known for his work in X-ray crystallography. He was widely regarded as the nation's foremost expert in using special X-ray cameras and mathematical formulas to make high-resolution images of viruses

© Copyright 2001 Boston Globe Electronic Publishing Inc.

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